Bone to Be Wild (36 page)

“My friends…” Her bravado slipped and she tucked her chin into her chest. Her hands trembled, either from shock or pain.

“Why didn't they send a man to help you?” Tinkie asked. “They let you try to burn down a building by yourself, and they didn't even teach you to do it properly. Does that sound like they care what happens to you? You almost died, and do you honestly think Farley or Mason Britt care? Now you're caught, and you'll take all the weight. You'll go to prison. The people who wanted to be your friends, the people who would be standing here with you now if you hadn't betrayed them, are the members of the band and Scott. You could have had a real family with them instead of being a disposable tool.”

The pain from her hands and face and the emotional pain of betrayal were too much. A tear fell into her lap.

Tinkie and I shared a glance. It was now or never. I'd have preferred to wait for Coleman so it would be official, but this moment might never come again.

“Who killed Koby Shaver?” I asked.

She spoke slowly, but clearly. “I drove the truck. Fred Doleman pulled the trigger.”

“And Mike Hawkins?”

“The same.” She wouldn't look at us. “The club had to be destroyed. I watched all those people, drinking and dancing, all of them letting the devil get into them. Some of them were almost having sex on the dance floor. Reverend Farley was right about the power of Satan in the music. You felt it. I saw you.” She pointed at me. Then Tinkie. “You too.”

“We were dancing and having fun.”

“I know where such things lead. I know plenty. Before I found Reverend Farley and the church I was passed around by men who drank and used me. They were bikers and I was their property. Fred found me on the streets in Memphis, and he took me to the church. They saved me.”

She struggled to control her voice and continued. “Reverend Farley taught me to respect myself. I wanted to get the tattoos removed, to take away the stain of my past life, but Reverend Farley said I should use them for good. He said my past should be the example to show the young girls of the church what could happen if they left the protection of their families. He gave me a home and taught me to serve.”

I recalled what Nandy had said about how Farley used Wanda Tatum as his living example, capitalizing on her tattoos and sad past. What Wanda didn't see was that she'd been used by Farley just like the men before him. Sexually and in ways equally as awful.

“Where are your parents, your family?” I asked.

“The church is my family.”

Wanda started to stand up from the cot, but I shook my head. “Don't. You need to wait here until the sheriff arrives. Tell us how to contact your parents or a sibling, a relative who can help you.”

She glared at me. “There is no one. Reverend Farley will come.”

“No, he won't,” Tinkie said softly. “Did he tell you to pretend to be Koby's girlfriend?”

Wanda held on to her defiance, but I suspected fear was at the root of it. “When he asked me to find a way to work at the club, I was glad to do it. The reverend wants to save people, to keep them from burning in hell. And that's where all of you are headed.”

“Because we like to dance?” Tinkie asked.

“Because you love to sin,” she said. The fire was back in her eyes. “Don't you see? Everything about this place is against God.”

“You've been brainwashed,” Tinkie said bluntly. “I don't know what Farley did to you, but you aren't using the good sense God gave you. Think, Wanda! Why would you give yourself over to—”

“It isn't my place to think. That's what's wrong with the modern world. Women want to think and be the boss and run the family and compete at the job and act like they're smarter and know better than the men. That's not God's way. Women are weak and should cleave to the man for his strength and guidance. We women are incapable of caring for ourselves. We are like children. I have lived in a world where I had to care for myself and it ended up in pain and drugs and sin. The man is the head of the household. He has dominion over the animals, the women and children, and the other races.”

It was hard to watch a young woman spout such nonsense so sincerely. If Farley wasn't punished for any other crime, he had to go down for what he'd done to Wanda and others in his congregation.

“So, killing an innocent person is the right thing to do?” I asked.

“No one is innocent. We are all sinners. Reverend Farley had a plan to rid Sunflower County of temptation and the source of sin. It would be a sign from God to rally people to the cause of righteousness.”

“You were okay with killing Koby Shaver, a decent man who did no harm to you or anyone else?”

She didn't answer.

“Koby was gunned down in cold blood. He never had a chance.”

“It isn't my place to question what I'm told.”

“Wanda, you're facing a murder-one charge. That's a death sentence.” Tinkie didn't mince her words. “Did you know they meant to kill Koby?”

Her eyes were large and scared. “I didn't.”

“What happened? You'd better tell us right now. If you were duped into this, I promise Sarah Booth and I will try to help you.”

“No one ever really helps me.” Another tear soaked her lap.

“You have my word,” Tinkie said. “It's the only thing you have right now.”

Wanda used a shoulder to rub her eye. “Fred went in the club. He reported back that it was filled with sin. It was just like the reverend said. So he called Reverend Farley, who sent me in the truck with the shotgun. He told me to drive and give the gun to Fred. The security men had been paid off, so they let me in.”

“And you didn't know what was going to happen?” Tinkie held out the slimmest hope. “If you didn't know, you can help yourself.”

“I thought Fred intended to shoot the building. I didn't know he meant to kill. It didn't matter to him who, just the first person who walked out the door. It was the bartender. The second time I was told to drive, I couldn't let him kill Mike. I liked Mike. His wife came up to the club and we talked. She was so excited about the baby coming. I couldn't let Fred shoot him down in his front yard so I jerked the wheel. Fred missed his shot. He was really mad. I told him the wheel slipped.”

Danni had said the truck jerked as the shot was fired. Tatiana was telling the truth about that, at least.

“I don't hold with sinning, but killing isn't right,” she said.

“How did you know to say you were Koby's girlfriend?” Tinkie asked.

“Fred said the club would be shorthanded for a bartender. I'd worked in bars before, so it was easy to pretend to be Koby's girl. No one really knew him, so it wasn't too much of a risk. We made some calls to the bar where he used to work, found out he was single.” She shrugged.

“Wanda, you are not a stupid girl.” Pink stained Tinkie's cheeks. “How could you fall for all of this? How could you give your life over to men who treated you like a cow?”

Wanda pulled her shoulders back. “Because I had a place where I belonged. A place where no one hurt me, and they said I was good and one day a man would take me for his wife and I would have a home forever.”

Never underestimate the power of belonging—the secret weapon of the cult.

“What role does Mason Britt play in all of this?” I asked.

“He's the enforcer. He punishes those who fall by the wayside. Farley gives the orders and Mason enforces them. He goes with Farley to his big meetings. Sometimes Fred goes too.”

“And Jaytee?” I would make that weasel pay.

She finally looked up. “I don't know about him.”

She'd never been part of the inner circle. Always an outsider, she hadn't a clue what it was all about. After all, she was just a woman.

“What about Bijou LaRoche?” Tinkie asked.

Wanda avoided eye contact, but not before I saw her features harden. “She is a vile creature. She tempted Jebediah and Mason. She flaunted herself before them. She called them to her home and offered them sex. She is a Jezebel.”

“Bijou never does anything unless she gains something. What did she want?”

“Ask Jebediah. She was his friend. She gave Mason a job so he could work in the community. He grew up around here and knew all the old farms and the barns. They had a real thing about those old buildings and moving the food shipments out there so the small planes could pick them up.”

Tinkie and I exchanged glances. “Food? What kind of food?”

“Who knows? Reverend Farley and Mason would go off at night to meet people. It was secret stuff, not for women. Sometimes they would come to the church and get us up to go and unload food boxes into the farm sheds.” Her eyebrows rose. “Reverend Farley told me once he was involved in changing the world order. God touched him! He told us all about it, how he was up early writing his sermon and God spoke to him and gave him an important role to play. He's a special man. And he said I had a role to play as well. Reverend Farley said God had marked me as special, too. We were gladiators and we would change the world.”

This was a girl who'd never had a moment where she felt like she was important or valuable until she joined a cult. Jebediah Farley had exploited her fear, self-loathing, lack of confidence—he'd played on every negative thing that made her life a misery.

“Was Farley interested in Bijou's buildings?” Tinkie asked.

Wanda shrugged. “Fred told me Farley was shocked when they got the invitation to move to Bijou's place, but the women were excited. They'd have houses to live in, even if it was an old slave shack and we were only staying a week or two. It would have been so much better than what we had. Those tents get cold and winter is coming. The men meet in the lodge, but women aren't allowed there.”

I had more questions, but Coleman arrived with two other men. It took a moment for me to recognize Jaytee and Mason Britt. Mason wasn't wearing handcuffs, and Jaytee had a lot of nerve showing up here. I jumped down from the back of the EMT van just as the paramedics came to close the door

Coleman arrested Wanda, read her her rights, and sent her on to the hospital. DeWayne would meet her there so she could be treated for her burns, and then taken into custody. When she was well enough, she'd be transferred to the Sunflower County jail. I did feel a little sorry for her. She'd been the dupe, and I certainly knew how that felt. Not pleasant.

I might be in jail beside her too because I intended to hurt Mason Britt and Jaytee. The only weapon I had was Harold's camera, and I grabbed it by the strap with the intention of swinging it directly into Mason Britt's face. I was almost on him when strong arms encircled me and pulled into a giant bear hug that immobilized me.

“Hold on, Sarah Booth,” Coleman said.

I struggled like a wild thing. “You have no idea what he did to me. He—” Words failed me. I wanted action, and I wanted to hurt him. Then I remembered Mason wasn't cuffed. “Why isn't he under arrest?”

“If you will stop acting like a pissed-off grizzly, I'll tell you.”

His tone was so reasonable it settled me more than anything else. “Tell me what?”

“Yeah, you'd better start talking.” Tinkie was unrestrained, and she was eyeing Mason and Jaytee with anger. “Coleman can't control both of us at the same time.”

Coleman pulled us aside, out of hearing from the firemen, who were putting their hoses away. They'd finished spraying the outside of the building with water to dilute the gasoline. Their work was complete.

Mason and Jaytee wisely hung back, and I had to wonder at the way they stood, so casual and at ease with each other. It made me want to hurt them more. They'd abused and humiliated women and gotten away with it, and if Jaytee wasn't in it up to his hairline, he was still a jackass for not calling Cece to say he wasn't hurt.

“Sarah Booth, Mason is an undercover agent from the ATF.”

I stared at Coleman. “Say that again.”

He did, and I read his lips because I didn't trust my ears.

“Are you saying he's a fed?”

“That's exactly what he's saying,” Mason said, stepping forward. “I'm sorry for roughing you up, but I had to be convincing. Fred Doleman was waiting on the porch, listening to everything I said to you. So much was at stake. There was to be a big meeting tonight, and at last I was going to be allowed to attend. I've worked undercover two years for that moment. If I hadn't been so harsh, Sarah Booth, Fred would have suspected. Doleman is the one who clocked you from behind, though. I couldn't react to protect you.”

“And you!” I turned on Jaytee. “I told you if you hurt my friend, I'd make you pay. You're in this—”

“He's working for Mason,” Coleman explained.

“I'm sure he's
undercover
, too.” Tinkie was as mad as I was.

“Liaison with the FBI,” Jaytee said, “but only for this case.”

“Very freaking clever.” I was pissed. “How is it I got beat up, tied up, tossed around, and he walks around like Caesar?”

“You were poking around where you didn't belong,” Mason said. “You could have blown my cover.”

If Mason was trying to be obnoxious, he had succeeded.

“How does Bijou figure into this?” Tinkie asked.

Coleman put a hand on my shoulder. “Let's go inside the club. I called Scott. He's on the way. He was with Harold so they're both coming. And they're bringing Cece.”

“If she forgives you, you're a lucky man,” I said to Jaytee as I walked past him and followed Coleman into the club. I was still angry. It had been a long, hard day, and the Johnny-come-lately facts I was receiving only served to frustrate me more.

I'd risked my life. The club had almost been burned down. Koby Shaver was dead. Mike Hawkins was shot. Curtis Hebert was beaten. Ned Gaston's house was burned to the ground. All of this had happened with federal agents right in the middle of it. How had they failed to stop it?